Unfortunately the force is not with her

This about made me pee I laughed so hard.

B.H. showed me this about a month or so ago, and I just never got around to sharing.

Someday I hope to learn how to embed these videos in my blog instead of simply linking.

Embedding is so much cooler.

Just Keep Swimming.....

Whew!

It has been a big ol' steamin' pile of constant activity here at Chez Us the past few weeks.

Beloved put up his musical production for the year at the high school where he teaches, and it was a great success. That of course has meant I have been a single parent while he put in a gazillion hours working, hence the lack of blog postings. Well...that and obsessively watching the 7th season of the Gilmore Girls on DVD. That takes up a lot of a girl's time.

The musical wrapped up just in time for Thanksgiving preparations for the huge masses of people that rained down on our home. We clocked in just over 30 people this year I believe. I chronicled my cooking adventures in earlier posts as you are likely aware. I was gravely disappointed to see that I was the only family member to actually bake pies this year. We had a boatload of pumpkin and pecan pies purchased from the local Sam's Club. Neither pie is my favorite and I flat out do not like baked goods that come from a grocery store bakery. Not cakes, pies, nuthin'! I am devout about making birthday cakes and decorating them myself such is my dislike of the grocery store bakery. My family members were arguing that the store bought pies were just as good as homemade. Take a guess which pies went first come desert time????? Harrumph! I did not gloat to anyone except BH after everyone left. I have that much restraint. Barely.

While I have negelected my own blog recently I have kept up my devout perusal of other people's musings. Lot's of interesting things going on in the blogs that I read lately. Some have given me some food for thought. One particular day or maybe it was over a few days I seemed to be reading a lot of posts about Stay At Home Mothers (SAHM). Most of those posts seemed to be about guilt, or justification. I thought I would put in my two cents here speaking as a Working Away From Home Mother (WAFHM...I really wanted an acronym! There is probably an official one out there but I am woefully uninformed if there is.) My two cents is this: Stop feeling guilty and stop feeling that you have to justify what you are doing. Because you don't have to and shouldn't do either of those things. More parents need to spend more time with their children. There is no guilt or shame in that. That time is especially crucial the first five years of life for a child.

I will not lie and tell you that I did not get a little pissy reading about this topic. I did get a little pissy and it has everything to do with jealousy and I recognize that and own it completely. If it were possible for me and my family I would walk away from my job right now, but it isn't so there is no point in "going there" as the kids say. My initial thoughts were, "Guilt?? I'll give you guilt!! Try coming home after working for 8+ hours to kids who just want to play and have some attention from you, and have every right to expect that attention but you just snap at them and start cracking the whip as soon as you walk through the door because you have dinner, chores, homework, reading aloud, showers, hair drying, violin practice, lunches to make, and God knows what else to accomplish in the two and half hours before the children must be in bed to get the prescribed amount of sleep to keep them healthy and happy. All the while knowing (because you are a professional who deals with children and what is best for them and their mental health) that you are not being the best mom you should be, but what do you let go of? Homework has to be done, people have to eat and be clean and..and...." then I got overwhelmed and had to stop thinking.

So SAHM's embrace your situation! Celebrate it! Hats off to you from me! Wish I could wear your hat too!

I think that is all I have to say about that.

In other news....my pie baking seems to have set off a very strong desire to bake within me. This is good because I have much baking in my future. #1 turns....GULP....I don't know if I can type this.....ok....here goes....10...YIKES!!! On Sunday. That means one cake (I am going totally from scratch this year!!!) Cupcakes (yup...going for the from scratch on those too!) and a batch of cookies. Speaking of cookies I made some kick ass peanut butter chocolate chip cookies on Saturday. Got the recipe from my Ghiradelli Chocolate Cookbook. Yuh-HUM!

Alrighty I think I have ranted enough for now. Hopefully I can come up with something interesting to say with more frequency over the next month.

Ta!

update

Ok so the pie count now stands at 3 pumpkin and 1 cherry pie that feels like it weighs 50 lbs and was baked in a 9x13 pan. I am blaming the weight on my stoneware pan. (I am pretty sure I have enough filling left to make at least one more 9 inch cherry pie, alas I have run out of ingredients for pie crust and don't feel like making a third trip to the store in two days.)

Yet to be cooked:
1 23 lb turkey
2 big pans of hashbrown casserole

That turkey weight is no typo either. I have about 30 people converging on my home tomorrow. We have another turkey and a ham that will be brought over. In my family there seems to be no such thing as too much meat, starch (I believe there will be at least three different types of potatoes not to mention the homemade noodles), and dessert.

Again I share because I thought you would want to know. Or maybe I just need to vent. Who knows, I am tired after spending so much time in the kitchen. Nice to cook though I must admit. I need to improve my pie crust skills.

Pie Countdown

The count so far:


1 pumpkin down


2 more pumpkin, and an undetermined number of cherry pies to go. (To give you an idea, I have about 3/4 of a stock pot full of cherry pie filling. This recipe takes 8 cans of cherries people. 8 CANS!!! I think I just may use of cake pan for one of the pies or I will be up until next Thanksgiving making them all, and I think I only have three pie pans left.)


Because I thought you should know.

Get in the giving spirit

Check this out. Rather apporopriate for the upcoming holidays I thought.

More later this week.

Crazy busy here.

Many thoughts running around my head that I hope to organize and put into writing soon.

A Little Trivia, a Little Anarchy

Today as I was on my way home for lunch I learned that today was the anniversary of the Sex Pistols first time on stage in 1975.

Apparently getting on stage was all there was to it, they were booed off before they even got to play a note.


So I say in honor of this historic day, go out and get your punk on and explore a little anarchy!


Or at the very least dig out that old copy of a copy of Nevermind the Bollocks and have a listen.

What you get when

Two children trick or treat for an hour:

That is my large sized mixing bowl. If you think I haven't been dipping my hot little hands in that bowl which contains mostly chocolate just about every time I walk past it, then I have not done a good job sharing with you my powerlessness against all things chocolaty.

I have to go get on the treadmill now and will need to stay on it until tomorrow morning.

I just may start drinkin' and this is boring...

Yeeeaaaahhhh......

Pretty much all I have to talk about is what is coming out of this germ factory formerly known as Chez Us.

So for the past two weeks we had the stomach ick making it's way through.

This week it's STREP!

Good ol' #2 is having her annual bout a little early this year. In reality though.... strep was far better news than what we took her to the minor med clinic for in the first place. We were fearful that she had broken her arm after a fall this morning at church, and I just decided to have them take a gander in her throat since she had been complaining of a sore throat for a day or two. Also I thought it might be a good idea to mention that sore throat when they took her temp and it was 101. What with the arm pain and all they did not subject her\us to a throat culture which was mightly kindly I thought, especially since all signs point to strep, we've had it enough around here to know the deal. Luckily the arm is just a sprain. Ace bandage and no wrestling or other such activities for a week.

Now I must leave you to hang a red cross on the door or whatever sign it is you are supposed to use when your home is nothing but a host for sickly germs.

Perhaps next week I will have something other than illness reports to entertain you.

I am really hoping there is something besides illness around her to entertain ME.

Happy Hallow...zzzzz....zzzzz

Get kids in costume

Parade.

Party.

Clean up party.

Clean House.

Visit relatives.

Trick or Treat.

Get kids ready for bed.

Clean up house.

Read blo...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Question posed to my daughters this morning:

"So do the two of you get together at night when we think you are sleeping and devise a schedule for who is grouchy at different times during the morning?"

Ummm...I would like to file a complaint please

OK. So last week #2 has this weird stomach-flu thing that involved her barfing once a day (always at night around 11-12) being ok for a day, then barfing again. We had this Saturday-Friday last week. No fever just vomit.

Tonight it apparently strikes #1. I am sure there are those out there who would say I am nuts given what I am about to say, but I am gonna say it anyway.

Why the hell can't they both be sick at the same time? My kids do this with every illness they pass around and it sucks. Instead of a week of illness we get two, sometimes 4 if BH and I get it too. I would far rather get it all over with at once then have this dragging it out forever shit.

Oh yeah....let us not forget that we are but a couple of days from Halloween.

If someone else was going to get this crap I was kind of hoping it would be me and that it would strike tomorrow night and then I could possibly get out of testifying in court this week. I hate it when I have to do that.

Can you get out of testifying if you are puking your guts out?

Because we all need something...

Here is something fun!

Pumpkin carving without the mess!

But no seeds to roast.

There was frost on my windshield this morning

So I heard the other day that Sam Brownback has decided to withdraw from the presidential race.

My response: Sam Brownback was in the presidential race????

In all seriousness I was glad to hear that news. I never thought he had a snowball's chance in hell, but that is at least one less Massive Scary Conservative to deal with.

So I thought........

Rumor has it he plans to run for Governor of Kansas in 2010.

That gives me the shivers, because the potential for that win is definitely present.

It would really suck if he won, because I detest moving.

If it gets to that I will be taking suggestions on desirable locations.


In other news....
So say you have a child and that child wakes up in the middle of the night and throws up. Said child is low key the following day, but no fever and no further vomiting episodes. The second day after the first episode, the child seems fine. That night the child wakes up and vomits again. No more episodes the rest of the evening, and seems fine if not downright chipper the next day.

So what is up with that!?

And So it Begins

First illness of the cold and flu season has struck, at approximately 12:30 AM CST with a barfing #2. I think that is enough on that topic.

The trip to Chicago was really quite good despite my concerns. The kids were really well behaved, didn't get in to much mishchief and were where they were supposed to be when they were supposed to be.

Our visit consisted of a trip to the Art Institute that was far FAR too short. We got to see the Gates of Paradise on their last day their which was pretty cool. Highlights for me were the Impressionist Gallery, On the Beach, and the Thorne Miniature Room which I came upon kind of by accident. I could have easily spent the entire day at the Institute and was reluctant to leave.

But leave I had to do as we had tickets to see Wicked. I am not much of one for the musicals, but this was a very enjoyable show and I liked it enough to consider seeing it again. The Ford Theatre was quite beautiful too I must say. Unfortunately I was not able to take pictures.

After Wicked we walked over to the Navy Pier which was pretty touristy, but some great views of the lake were to be found as well as gorgeous night time views of the Chicago skyline. There was a stained glass museum there that was pretty interesting too.

The trip was short but I felt like we got to see/do a pretty fair amount of good stuff for the time we were there. Also it was a low to no drama experience which is exactly what we were hoping for.

That pretty much sums up the Chicago trip, ooh except that we found a Boudin's and got some of their delicious fresh sourdough bread. So yummy!

I still have not had a chance to deal with pictures from the trip, so that will have to be a post for another day.

Now I must be off to read a sick girl some stories, and continue my efforts to catch up after the trip. Still so far far away....

I have returned

We made it back to our house at about 9:00 last night.
So I am tired and have much catching up to do.

In truth I probably won't catch up this week, but I can guaran-damn-tee that I will drive myself bloody well insane trying to do so.

Maybe next week I will post some pitchurs of what we did and maybe even tell you about it too.

This of course is all dependent on my not being admitted to the loony bin this week.

Hello my name is Missy and I have control issues

B.H. and I are preparing for a trip to Chicago this weekend.

"Oh, how romantic and fun!" You might be thinking.

Romantic...not much chance. Fun....well I hope so.

You see we will be joined by about 80+ high school students and a handful of adults.

Did I mention that we will be traveling there on a bus?

So now you can see where the romance went, and perhaps you also get why I am not convinced that fun will be part of this trip either.

When B.H. first told me of this proposed trip for his students my immediate reaction was don't think even for a MINUTE that I will not be joining you for this trip. Travel doesn't happen often around here and when it does it usually is for purposes of visiting family. While enjoyable, not particularly adventurous. I was taken in by the idea of seeing Wicked, and going to groovy museums and dare I hope...shopping??

I will get to do all of those things. I am happy about that, and sure that I will enjoy it.

In the past day or so however I have begun to consider the realities of the trip, and in so doing have begun to question the wisdom of my insistence upon joining in this venture.

Now I may have mentioned this before.....but I like to plan things. I usually think my way of planning is the best choice for all involved. Sometimes this is a good thing.

Sometimes it is not.

It has just occurred to me that I will be following someone else's plans and schedule for this entire trip.

Despite how much I may want to alter the plans I will be unable to do so.

Also...I am going to be on a bus full of people I don't know for approximately 24 hours total by the time all is said and done. 24 hours. On. A. Bus.

Dear Lord what I have I gotten myself in to?

If I had thought of these things a few months ago, I am not sure I would have been so insistent on going.

In truth this may be good for me. There are those who might say it would be good for me to lighten up a bit, let go of the steering wheel so to speak. Being around others will be good. My social life has dwindled to a virtual halt over the past few years..but that I suppose is a post for another day. So let's leave it at....it will be good for me to exercise social skills that I fear I have completely lost due to my lack of socializing with grownups in particular.

I am trying to maintain a positive attitude.

I am also trying to think of how I can occupy myself on a really long ass bus ride.

Any suggestions?

Could you add one more thing to those thoughts?

Calm children. There will be about 10 of them in my house tomorrow.

There is a 70% chance of Thunderstorms tomorrow.

So they will likely be inside the house the entire time.

The whole time.

All 10 of them.

Ages 11 and under.

Oy.
Vey.

A little twitchy

When I was a kid, EVERY Sunday we would go over to my grandmother's house for dinner with the rest of my family. Sometime around the time I was about 10 years old, they stopped for some reason that I can not recall 25 years later. For a while now I have been saying that we should try to re-instate the Sunday dinner. Not every Sunday, but perhaps once a month, and not a roast dinner every time either. That was what we had E-V-E-R-Y Sunday. Lately those of us in my large and sprawling family have been reminiscing about the food and desserts my grandmother used to make. My grandmother has serious arthritis and suffered a stroke about 6 years ago as a result just can not stand up in the kitchen long enough to bake and cook like she used too. We have all been very sad about that for a long time.

SOOooo, finally last week I got up off my butt and made arrangements to start this Sunday dinner thing back up once and for all. The idea has been met with much enthusiasm. My goal for the next year or so is to learn how to make the cakes, pies and other assorted baked yummies that my grandma used to make. On our birthdays every year she would make each person in the family their favorite pie or cake. My grandma was not much of one for recipes, and she is not getting younger, so I have to start now, and have her dictate while I do the work and write down those recipes that have not been written down.

This is a long winded way of getting to why I am a little twitchy. Tomorrow is the first dinner, the menu is Chicken and Dumplings (the home made roast a chicken roll out the dumplings kind) salad, rolls, green beans, Fresh Apple Cake, and Cherry Dessert. There might be a couple of other things too, but I can't recall them now because they are not my responsibility. I am providing dessert and the house. I feel that is a plenty. Now these desserts are REVERED in my family and I have never made them before. It has been a long time since anyone has had them so there has been a lot of time for memories of how wonderful they were to build to out of control proportions. The fresh apple cake is baking as I type. It is taking every thing I have not to cut a slice and take it to my mother's house to make sure it is ok. (This cake is not my favorite, so I am no judge. That is also why we are having cherry dessert. Cream Cheese, Dream Whip, Cherry pie filling. Just hand me a spoon people.)

So think good food thoughts for me people. I got a tough audience tomorrow.

Musical Prodigy?

So I am listening to #1 practice her violin right now, and it is not painful.

Of course one pleasing to the ear practice equals child prodigy.

No one could ever accuse me of failing to be a proud parent!

Another doozy from #2

So we are in the car on the way home from tennis lessons this morning, and as is all to common for my personal liking these days, the children are refusing to accept an answer we have given them to some question.

In exasperation I ask why they continue ask, when an answer has been provided.

#2's response: We can't understand what you say because you don't speak kid.

Anybody else see scary things in our future?